Patentable/Patents/US-10176178
US-10176178

Systems and methods for arranging contextually related media assets

PublishedJanuary 8, 2019
Assigneenot available in USPTO data we have
Inventorsnot available in USPTO data we have
Technical Abstract

Systems and methods are provided herein for automatically arranging media assets that are contextually related to a requested media asset for access prior to a start time of the requested media asset. In some embodiments, user input circuitry may receive a user request to access a media asset. Control circuitry may identify, by consulting a database, a first set of media assets that share a context with the requested media asset and were released prior to the release date of the requested media asset. Control circuitry may determine a subset of media assets of the first set of media assets by performing a comparison of each media asset of the first set of the media assets against a viewing history of the user. Control circuitry may access a user profile to determine a user constraint, and generate a recommendation for display based on a first aspect of the user constraint.

Patent Claims
20 claims

Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.

1

1. A method for automatically arranging media assets that are contextually related to a requested media asset, the method comprising: receiving, with user input circuitry, a user selection of a first media asset to access, at a first time, the first media asset, wherein the first time is a time when the first media asset is available for the user's consumption; identifying, with control circuitry, by querying a database, a second media asset related to the first media asset, wherein the second media asset was released prior to a release date of the first media asset; determining, by performing a comparison of the second media asset against a viewing history of the user, whether the user has viewed the second media asset; in response to determining that the user has not viewed the second media asset, determining that the second media asset is not available for the user's consumption before the first time; in response to determining that the second media asset is not available for the user's consumption before the first time: determining that the second media asset will be available for the user's consumption at a second time after the first time; determining that the first media asset will be available for the user's consumption at a third time after the second time; and in response to determining that the second media asset will be available for the user's consumption at the second time and that the first media asset will be available for the user's consumption at the third time, generating a recommendation based comprising a proposal to access the second media asset at the second time after the first time and to access the first media asset at the third time after the second time; and generating for display the recommendation.

2

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first media asset and the second media asset comprise at least one of: sequential episodes, movie sequels, and contextually related videos.

3

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first time is a scheduled broadcast time for the first media asset.

4

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the second media asset is not available for the user's consumption before the first time comprises: accessing a user profile of the user to determine a user constraint; and determining that accessing the second media asset before the first time fails to meet the user constraint, wherein the user constraint comprises at least one of: video resolution, timing of broadcast, duration, theme, availability, mode of delivery, speed of access, user availability, and user preference for media assets.

5

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein generating the recommendation further comprises: determining a plurality of manners of accessing the first media asset and the second media asset; automatically permuting possible combinations of the manners of accessing the first media asset and the second media asset to generate an evaluation metric for each possible combination; comparing the evaluation metric for each possible combination against the user constraint to determine an optimal combination; and generating for display a recommendation for the optimal combination.

6

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising receiving user input to register the user profile, wherein the user profile includes at least one user constraint for accessing media assets.

7

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein accessing the user profile of the user to determine the user constraint further comprises: accessing the database; cross-referencing data input by a user with the database to identify the user profile of the user; and determining, based on the user profile, the user constraint.

8

8. A system for automatically arranging media assets that are contextually related to a requested media asset, the system comprising: storage circuitry configured to store information associated with media assets; user input circuitry configured to receive a user selection of a first media asset to access, at a first time, the first media asset, wherein the first time is a time when the first media asset is available for the user's consumption; and control circuitry configured to: identify, using the storage circuitry, a second media asset related to the first media asset, wherein the second media asset was released prior to a release date of the first media asset; determine, by performing a comparison of the second media asset against a viewing history of the user, whether the user has viewed the second media asset; in response to determining that the user has not viewed the second media asset, determine that the second media asset is not available for the user's consumption before the first time; in response to determining that the second media asset is not available for the user's consumption before the first time: determine that the second media asset will be available for the user's consumption at a second time after the first time; determine that the first media asset will be available for the user's consumption at a third time after the second time; and in response to determining that the second media asset will be available for the user's consumption at the second time and that the first media asset will be available for the user's consumption at the third time, generate a recommendation comprising a proposal to access the second media asset at the second time after the first time and to access the first media asset at the third time after the second time; and generate for display the recommendation.

9

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first media asset and the second media asset comprise at least one of: sequential episodes, movie sequels, and contextually related videos.

10

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first time is a scheduled broadcast time for the first media asset.

11

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining that the second media asset is not available for the user's consumption before the first time, is further configured to: access a user profile of the user to determine a user constraint; and determine that accessing the second media asset before the first time fails to meet the user constraint, wherein the user constraint comprises at least one of: video resolution, timing of broadcast, duration, theme, availability, mode of delivery, speed of access, user availability, and user preference for media assets.

12

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining the recommendation, is further configured to: determine a plurality of manners of accessing the first media asset and the second media asset; automatically permute possible combinations of the manners of accessing the first media asset and the second media asset to generate an evaluation metric for each possible combination; compare the evaluation metric for each possible combination against the user constraint to determine an optimal combination; and generate for display a recommendation for the optimal combination.

13

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the user input circuitry is further configured to receive user input to register the user profile, wherein the user profile includes at least one user constraint for accessing media assets.

14

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: access a database; cross-reference data input by a user with the database to identify the user profile of the user; and determine, based on the user profile, the user constraint.

15

15. A method for providing recommendations for consumption of related media assets, the method comprising: receiving, with user input circuitry, a user selection of a media asset; identifying, with control circuitry, a media asset related to the selected media asset; determining, by comparing the related media asset with a media consumption history of the user, whether the user previously consumed the related media asset; in response to determining that the user has not previously consumed the related media asset, determining whether the related media asset is available for the user's consumption prior to the user's consumption of the selected media asset; in response to determining that the related media asset is not available for the user's consumption prior to the user's consumption of the selected media asset: determining whether the related media asset will become available for the user's consumption at a future time; and determining whether the selected media asset will be available for the user's consumption after the future time; and in response to determining that the related media asset will be available for the user's consumption at the future time and the selected media asset will be available for the user's consumption after the future time, generating for display a recommendation comprising a proposal for the user to consume the related media asset at the future time and consuming the selected media asset after the future time.

16

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the selected media asset and the related media asset comprise at least one of: sequential episodes, movie sequels, and contextually related videos.

17

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein determining whether the related media asset is available for the user's consumption prior to the user's consumption of the selected media asset comprises: accessing a user profile of the user to determine a user constraint; and determining that consuming the related media asset prior to the user's consumption of the selected media asset fails to meet the user constraint, wherein the user constraint comprises at least one of: video resolution, duration, theme, mode of delivery, speed of access, user availability, cost, and user preference for media assets.

18

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein generating the recommendation further comprises: determining a plurality of manners of consuming the selected media asset and the related media asset; automatically permuting possible combinations of the manners of accessing the selected media asset and the related media asset to generate an evaluation metric for each possible combination; comparing the evaluation metric for each possible combination against the user constraint to determine an optimal combination; and generating for display a recommendation for the optimal combination.

19

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving user input to register the user profile, wherein the user profile includes at least one user constraint for consuming media assets.

20

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein accessing the user profile of the user to determine the user constraint further comprises: accessing a database; cross-referencing data input by a user with the database to identify the user profile of the user; and determining, based on the user profile, the user constraint.

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Patent Metadata

Filing Date

June 17, 2015

Publication Date

January 8, 2019

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Systems and methods for arranging contextually related media assets — Akitaka Nishimura | Patentable